Wednesday, April 13, 2016

The Cruelty of April

APRIL is the cruellest month, breeding 
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing 
Memory and desire, stirring 
Dull roots with spring rain.
                      - T. S. Eliot, "The Waste Land"

It's been two days since I rearranged my booth and three more items sold. Which may not sound like a lot but that's a 300% increase. I also had some good luck in some other endeavors of mine, putting me in an excellent mood yesterday, but of course with fortune follows the immediate misery. 

Yesterday I had a very, very unfortunate experience with an eBay buyer who tried to take me to the cleaners. She paid for her item after the auction was over but then she immediately sent me a threatening email, claiming that my shipping costs were "outrageous" and if I didn't lower them, she would "tell ebay and leave me a bad review." Like a seven-year-old. 

The item: Women's top. 
Weight: 0.15kg
My location: London, Ontario
Her location: Seattle, Washington
My shipping costs: CA$16.00 = US$12.50

Shipping from Ontario to Washington, which is almost cross-continent, was actually $17.46, so I was doing her a favor. Please, if anyone out there could provide some insight into the outrageousness of this shipping cost, please let me know. 

And it was just all downhill after that. I offered her a full refund, she didn't respond and then she filed a dispute with Paypal, claiming that "the seller will not agree to reasonable shipping charges." And then demanded a refund, which I couldn't do because the funds were being held by Paypal...due to the dispute. 

It's over and done with now but it ruined what was otherwise a good day. I also found out last night that one of my items in the store is missing. This guy:


I went in today to look for it around the store, in hopes that the pitcher had just been misplaced rather than broken or stolen, but no luck. Kind of a hard item to steal, huh?

Has anybody else had any bad experiences with eBay buyers/sellers? I'd love to hear your stories. Also, what do you do when an item in your booth is missing?

- J

No comments:

Post a Comment